HELIX CODE, INC.                                             SECURITY ADVISORY

security@helixcode.com                                 Issue Date: 29 Aug 2000



PACKAGES AFFECTED:

"go-gnome" Helix GNOME pre-installer



SYNOPSIS:

A vulnerability in the go-gnome pre-installer allows non-root users to exploit

world-writable permissions in /tmp, permitting files normally only accessible

by root to be overwritten.



DESCRIPTION:

The go-gnome pre-installer uses a few rather predictable filenames in /tmp

for uudecode, snarf, and the installer files. If one (or more) of those files

already exist with a symbolic link created by a malicious user, the files

pointed to by those links will be clobbered.



SOLUTION:

The go-gnome pre-installer has been updated on the main Helix Code mirror and

go-gnome.com. This new version fixes this vulnerability by storing files in

/var/cache/helix-install, which is writable only by root.



AVAILABILITY:

A new version of the go-gnome pre-installer is available immediately from Helix

Code, Inc. at go-gnome.com:



http://go-gnome.com



VERIFICATION:

94e5849dd659642bc58d768d12c3c26d  go-gnome



Copyright (c) 2000 Helix Code, Inc.